Shoe heel



Jan. 24, 1967 N. HACK I 3,299,544

SHOE HEEL Filed'Dec. 20, 1965 INVENTOR.

BY //d/m w 7 42 United States Patent 3,299,544 SHOE HEEL Nathan Hack, Santa Monica, Calif., assignor to Ripple Sole Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed Dec. 20, 1965, Ser. No. 515,064 4 Claims. (Cl. 36-59) This invention relates generally to ground-contacting elements for shoes and, more particularly, to a new and improved shoe heel embodying corrugated, undulating projections or ribs arranged transversely along the lower or ground-contacting side thereof. This application is related to the subject matter disclosed and claimed in Hack patents, No. 2,710,461, No. 2,833,057, and No. 2,941,317.

The above-referred to patents are directed toward shoe soles and heels which are constructed of resilient deformable materials such as rubber, flexible plastics, or other suitable compositions that are molded in a manner so as to provide a plurality of transversely arranged corrugated ribs, undulations or projections extending downwardly from and formed integrally with an upper platform section that is adapted to be fixedly secured to the base portion of shoes of virtually any type, either for men or women, and either light walking shoes or heavy duty construction shoes. The corrugations or ribs are defined by rearwardly and downwardly inclined contact surfaces at their forward and rear faces which are arranged such that during forward Walking or running, the ribs will yield downwardly and forwardly, resulting in a forward gliding movement being imparted to the foot. The reason for this resides in the fact that the ribs are inclined off center, whereby any weight placed thereon causes the contact surfaces of each of the ribs to flex downwardly and rearwardly under such weight.

Although the shoe sole and heel constructions disclosed in the above patents have been considered to be a substantial advance in the art, the heels have been objectionable from the standpoint that when the rear end portions thereof are trimmed to accommodate particular size shoes, frequently only a partialrib is left remaining at the rear end of the heels. This, of course, has been unsatisfactory since the rear ends of the heels do not provide any appreciable area of ground contact for a firm stable support and because the partial ribs of the heels are subjected to excessive wear.

The aforementioned Hack Patent No. 2,941,317 discloses a shoe heel construction which was designed to obviate the above problems by providing a heel platform or plateau at the rearmost ends of the heels, which plateaus may be easily trimmed without adversely affecting the shape or resilient characteristics of ribs; however, the applicant has discovered that when the shoe heels are provided with such plateaus, unless the height or thickness of the plateaus are of a predetermined size relative to the height or thickness of the ribs, the provision of the plateaus tends to negate or at least minimize the desirable resilient and forward gliding action imparted to the wearers feet during normal walking or running. More particularly, the applicant has found that unless the ground-contacting plane of the heel plateaus is spaced slightly upwardly relative to the ground-contacting plane of the plurality of ribs so that the lower ends of the ribs engage or contact the ground momentarily before the ground-engaging surface of the heel plateau, the plateau will act as a sort of brake to resist the resilient gliding movement normally imparted to the feet by the projections.

It is accordingly, a general object of the present invention to provide a new and improved heel construction "ice which embodies the resilient and glide imparting features disclosed in the hereinabove cited patents.

It is a more particular object of the present invention to provide a new and improved heel construction of the above character which includes means providing an appreciable area of contact at the rearward end of the heel to provide for firm stable support and for resistance against excessive heel wear.

It is still a more particular object of the present invention to provide a new and improved heel construction of the above character wherein the means providing the areas of ground contact is in the form of a heel plateau which is formed such that it will not adversely affect the resilient and glide-imparting features of the heel.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a conventional shoe which is provided with a heel construction embodying the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a bottom elevational view of the heel construction illustrated in FIGURE 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevational view of the portion of the heel construction of FIGURE 1 illustrated within the oval 3 thereof; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevational view of a slightly modified embodiment of the present invention.

Referring now to the drawing, a heel construction 10, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, is shown in operative association with a conventional shoe, generally designated by the numeral 12. The heel 10 comprises a platform section or body 14 from which depend a plurality of transversely extending projections or rib members, generally designated 16, and a rear heel plateau 18. The rib members 16 and plateau 18 are integrally formed with the body 14 and are constructed of a resilient deformable material such as rubber, flexible plastic or other suitable compositions. The heel 10 is secured to the shoe 12 by any suitable means, for example, by a suitable adhesive, stitching, or by molding or vulcanizing the heel to the shoe base. The heel 10 may be constructed by any suitable casting process, by injection molding, by extrusion and die cutting, or by other suitable techniques well known in the art.

As best seen in FIGURE 3, each of the rib members 16 is formed with a rearwardly and downwardly inclined or slanting front face portion 20 and with a rearwardly and downwardly inclined rear face portion 22. The face portions 20 and 22 of each of the rib members 16 are conjoined at their lower extremities by rounded, blended arcuate or radius portions 24, all of the radius portions 24 lying along an imaginary horizontal plane, illustrated in FIGURE 3 and designated by the numeral 26. The rear face portions 22 and front face portions 20 of the adjacent rib members 16 are conjoined by rounded, blended arcuate or radius portions 28 adjacent the lower side of the platform section 14.

As illustrated in FIGURE 2, to provide against side slip or sideways motion as the heel 10 makes contact with the ground and the like in walking or running, each of the rib members 16 is transversely curved or arcuate in shape. In particular, each of the rib members 16 is formed with a pair of arcuate portions 30 and 32, the portions 30 being arranged generally parallel to each other, as are the portions 32. The portions 30 and 32 define a common longitudinal median line demarcing them in pairs of conjoined semi-projections. It may be noted that the portions 30 and 32 may terminate short of the side edges of the heel 10 when desired and still provide the desired function of minimizing side slip or sideways motion; Also, the degree of curvature may be changed slightly but should not be changed to such an order or degree as to negate the resilient flexing and glide action which characterize the rib members 16. It may be noted that while the members 16 in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention are of the generally arcuate shape hereinabove describe-d, the rib members 16 may be straight as in Hack Patent No. 2,710,461, or of various alternative configurations such as those shown in Hack patents, No. 2,833,057 and No. 2,937,462, without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Referring now in detail to the construction of the heel plateau 18, as best seen in FIGURES 2 and 3, the plateau 18 is formed with a downwardly and rearwardly projecting front face portion 34 which comprises arcuate sections 36 and 38 that are generally parallel to the portions 30 and 32 of the rib members 16 and which intersect along the median line defined by the portions 30 and 32. The lower end of the face portion 34 terminates at a generally horizontal contact surface 40 which lies along an imaginary plane 42 that is spaced from and extends substantially parallel to the aforementioned imaginary plane 26. The heel plateau 18 is preferably somewhat oversize when initially fabricated to allow for trimming to suit or accommodate the size and configuration of the particular shoe to which the heel construction is to be attached, thereby enabling a single mold to produce heels which may be used on several different sizes of shoes.

In accordance with the principles of the present invention, the imaginary plane 42, along which the contact surface 40 of the heel plateau 18 is located, is spaced slightly above the plane 26 which delineates the lower extremities of the transverse rib members 16. In a preferred construction of the present invention, the contact surface 40 is spaced between and A3 of an inch above the plane 26. With this construction, the rib members 16' will contact the ground momentarily before the contact surface 40 during normal walking or running. Accordingly, the heel plateau 18 will not prevent the rib members 16 from functioning in the manner for which they were designed, i.e., the plateau 18 will not prevent the rib members 16 from imparting the resilient, forward gliding movement to the feet of the wearer, as hereinabove'described. The distance which the contact surface 40 is spaced above the plane 26 is important in that if the contact surface 40 is spaced too far above the plane 26, the heel 10 will be relatively unstable and will tend to teeter slightly as the wearer bears down upon the heel 10. Conversely, and as above described, if the contact surface 40 is not spaced sufficiently above the plane 26, the heel plateau 18 will tend to negate or minimize the flexing action of the rib members 16.

FIGURE 4 illustrates a slightly modified embodiment of the present invention wherein the rearmost rib member 16 of the heel construction 10 is formed slightly longer than the rest of the members 16 and terminates at an imaginary plane 44 which isspaced slightly below and extends substantially parallel to the aforedescribed planes 26 and 42. With this construction, it has been found that the forward glide imparting movement of the heel construction 10 is further enhanced due to the fact that i 4 the rearmost rib member 16 flexes to an even greater degree than in the heel 10 of FIGURES 1-3.

It will be seen from the foregoing description that the applicant has provided a novel heel construction which embodies a wear-resistant and stable appearing heel plateau that does not detract from the desirable resilient and glide imparting characteristics disclosed in the various hereinabove mentioned Hack patents. Accordingly, the heel construction 10 of the present invention will exhibit excellent marketability.

While it will be apparent from the foregoing description that the exemplary embodiments herein illustrated are well calculated to fulfill the objects above stated, it will be appreciated that the heel construction 10 of the present invention is susceptible to modification, variation and change without departing from the proper scope or fair meaning of the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a ground contacting element for a shoe,

a resilient body adapted to be fixedly secured to the base of the shoe and comprising a series of transversely extending downwardly and rearwardly inclined rib members and a heel plateau,

each of said rib members having front and rear forwardly inclined face portions diverging upwardly and forming an arcuate juncture with said body, whereby when said rib members are engaged with a supporting surface, said rib members will flex forwardly under weight applied to the body and will impart a resilient forward gliding movement to the shoe,

the lower ends of said rib members all terminating along a common imaginary plane extending substantially parallel to the base of the shoe,

said heel plateau including a downwardly and rearwardly inclined forward surface and a lower contact surface which is substantially parallel to the base of the shoe,

said contact surface being spaced upwardly from said imaginary plane whereby said rib members will engage the support surface momentarily before said contact surface during normal walking or running to permit said flexing action of said rib members.

2. The invention as set forth in claim 1 wherein said contact surface is spaced between and A; inch above said imaginary plane.

3. The invention as set forth in claim 1 wherein one of said rib members extends below the imaginary plane.

4. The invention as set forth in claim 1 wherein the rearmost of said rib members extends below the imaginary plane.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,833,057 5/1958 Hack 3659 2,937,462 5/1960 Hack et a1. 36-59 2,941,317 6/1960 Hack 36-59 X 3,006,085 10/1961 Bingharn 3659 3,061,952 11/1962 Prohaska 36-59 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,138,919 6/1957 France.

PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner, 

1. IN A GROUND CONTACTING ELEMENT FOR A SHOE, A RESILIENT BODY ADAPTED TO BE FIXEDLY SECURED TO THE BASE OF THE SHOE AND COMPRISING A SERIES OF TRANSVERSELY EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY AND REARWARDLY INCLINED RIB MEMBERS AND A HEEL PLATEAU, EACH OF SAID RIB MEMBERS HAVING FRONT AND REAR FORWARDLY INCLINED FACE PORTIONS DIVERGING UPWARDLY AND FORMING AN ARCUATE JUNCTURE WITH SAID BODY, WHEREBY WHEN SAID RIB MEMBERS ARE ENGAGED WITH A SUPPOORTING SURFACE, SAID RIB MEMBERS WILL FLEX FORWARDLY UNDER WEIGHT APPLIED TO THE BODY AND WILL IMPART A RESILIENT FORWARD GLIDING MOVEMENT TO THE SHOE, THE LOWER ENDS OF SAID RIB MEMBERS ALL TERMINATING ALONG A COMMON IMAGINARY PLANE EXTENDING SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO THE BASE OF THE SHOE, SAID HEEL PLATEAU INCLUDING A DOWNWARDLY AND REARWARDLY INCLINED FORWARD SURFACE AND A LOWER CONTACT SURFACE WHICH IS SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO THE BASE OF THE SHOE, SAID CONTACT SURFACE BEING SPACED UPWARDLY FROM SAID IMAGINARY PLANE WHEREBY SAID RIB MEMBERS WILL ENGAGE THE SUPPORT SURFACE MOMENTARILY BEFORE SAID CONTACT SURFACE DURING NORMAL WALKING OR RUNNING TO PERMIT SAID FLEXING ACTION OF SAID RIB MEMBERS. 